1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) networks, and more specificelly to a traffic control method for controlling source user traffic on an access link to an ATM network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an ATM network, resource management cells are exchanged between source and destination end systems (user terminals) at periodic intervals to regulate the source traffic according to control data inserted into a received RM cell by the network. As described in "Traffic Management Specification Version 4.0", The ATM Forum, Technical Committee, March 1996, the source end system transmits data cells at an allowed cell rate (ACR) over an established virtual channel and this ACR value is altered according to the received control data. Since the ATM system allows an end system to establish multiple virtual channels simultaneously to different destinations, while the source traffic is controlled on a per-channel basis, there is a likelihood of the user's access link being overloaded. If the overloaded condition is left unattended, a serious local congestion would develop at the source end system.